The entire TV marketplace is bracing for how economic uncertainty will impact upfront ad commitments as the industry heads into the spring selling season. Diverse-owned and targeted media particularly fear that brands' commitments to equitable investment might be among the first cuts, especially after two years of slow gains.

The top advice was to not only buy from diverse-owned media, but to do so directly and utilize their tech and data capabilities. Many presenters partner with programmatic buying platforms, but warned advertisers when investing with sellers of their scale, true results don't come from blasting out blanket creative from a demo dropdown box.

"We're such a hot commodity today because [brands are] building social capital," said Damian Pelliccione, CEO and co-founder of LGBTQ+ streamer Revry, during a panel. "You can't do that programmatically because there is a disconnect through ad servers with partners like us who are trying to educate and guide you through that process so you get the maximum return on investment. Programmatic is lazy for minority platforms."

Read more at AdAge.